A calm bedtime story for when you can't switch your brain off, about an evening that refuses to end. The light should be turning from gold to copper to grey, but the sun is still hanging above the water, not setting, not moving. Prince Freddie walks the length of the beach to ask her why, sits down on the warm sand, and waits. It turns out she has noticed something on the water she had not looked at properly in years, and the moon and about forty stars are waiting politely for her to finish. A slow, warm story about being allowed to linger, and about the evening arriving anyway.

Prince Freddie is a small dog in a flat gold crown who lives in a sleepy village on the Spanish coast, where the days are warm, the sea is always close, and nothing is ever in a hurry. These are unhurried sleep stories, written to quiet an anxious mind and soften the end of the day. You are not meant to reach the end.

No ads, ever. How to listen: lie down, dim the light, and let the words do the walking. If you drift off before the last line, the story has done its job.

Follow Prince Freddie Sleep Stories for a new story to fall asleep to. Read the written stories at stories.princefreddie.com and find everything at princefreddie.com.

If Freddie has helped you sleep, a rating or a review on Apple Podcasts helps someone else find him.

If this one ends before you do, there is a longer telling. The Settle, Night 22, is the same story told twice, slower the second time, 28 minutes over a steady sea, with an ending you are not meant to hear. Ad-free, and the first seven nights are free. settle.princefreddie.com

Every story is written by the Prince Freddie studio and read by a calm synthetic voice.

Press play, and let the day settle.